


To Be Titled

by Lanceeselhombre



Series: Autism-related Prompt Fills [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Autistic Keith (Voltron), Canon Compliant, Gen, Happens during S1, Lots of discussion about hygiene, Prompt Fill, Shiro (Voltron) is a Good Friend, autistic author
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29451477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lanceeselhombre/pseuds/Lanceeselhombre
Summary: Prompt: “Character A introduces Character B to sponge baths.”
Relationships: Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Series: Autism-related Prompt Fills [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2163303
Kudos: 21





	To Be Titled

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been waiting all day to post this and still don’t have a title. I’ll take suggestions in the comments!

Keith wrapped his arms tighter around his knees and glowered at his bedroom door. He could hear someone knocking, but there was no way he was getting up to answer it. 

He may be autistic, but he wasn’t dumb. He saw the subtle way his teammates had been wrinkling their noses when they stood too close to him and how they tried to keep their distance as they trained and ate together. They might think he was oblivious, but it was just as obvious to him as it was to them. 

He stank, to put it bluntly. 

The teen couldn’t remember the last time he took a shower. The date floated somewhere in his memory between ‘pretty long ago’ and ‘too long ago to remember,’ but he knew it had been long enough. He knew he was overdo for one, he just hated the idea too much to take one. 

Showers were the worst form of sensory hell he could possibly imagine. The whole experience was terrible, from the cold, slippery porcelain to the loud, vaguely painful spray of water that always seemed to be just barely too hot or too cold, leaving him unable to focus on actually  _ cleaning  _ himself until the temperature was right. An hour would go by before he would finally give up and get out, far less clean then he had hoped to be. To top it all off, he usually had a meltdown afterwards for all his troubles. 

He wanted to be clean. It sucked to be dirty all the time. Not only did he smell gross, but he  _ itched _ too. There wasn’t a single patch of his skin that felt comfortable right now. It took all of his willpower to not constantly scratch at the worst of it, lest he accidentally cause himself to bleed. He had a few rashes by now too in the crooks of his elbows and his knees, which hurt more than they itched at this point. His face felt gross and oily and his hair was so greasy he couldn’t touch it, not even to brush it. 

He  _ really _ wanted to be clean. He just wished he didn’t have to take a shower to get that way. 

Before the impromptu trip to space, he did well enough with the occasional rinse off, staying in just long enough to wash his hair, that it wasn’t very noticeable. Living by himself in the desert and even before that at the garrison wasn’t so stressful that he couldn’t handle the occasional discomfort, either. Now, though, he couldn’t deal with it on top of everything else he was expected to do now. 

And finally, his inability to handle basic hygiene was so obvious that someone was knocking at his door to tell him so. 

It pissed him off whenever someone explained simple things to him like he was dumb, like he couldn’t understand. Usually, he  _ could _ . He knew damn well he smelled horrible; it bothered him just as much as it did everyone else. 

Fixing it was just really hard. 

When he didn’t acknowledge his unwanted visitor, they opened the door of their own accord and came in, much to his chagrin. A small part of him was thankful it was Shiro, but the larger part of him was angry- angry at his predicament and angry at how his role model might react.

“I really don’t want to talk to you right now.” Keith growled as he looked away from the other, opting to stare at the empty wall instead. 

He bristled at the silence that followed his words. Eventually, there was a quiet sigh, and Keith saw the man sit down at the other end of his bed. The teen didn’t react, still defensive and upset. 

It was another moment before Shiro said something. “Do you think I’m here to yell at you?” He asked levely. 

Keith’s expression darkened considerably at the mention, which he guessed was all Shiro needed to keep talking. 

“I’m not here to yell at you, kiddo.” The man started softly, though his tone did little to soothe Keith’s emotions. The teen continued to glare at the wall, adamant to look anywhere but at Shiro. “I can tell you’re having a hard time right now. I understand that certain things can be difficult for you and I want to help.” 

“I don’t need your help.” Keith spat out immediately, almost on instinct. He was so used to hearing those same words anytime he struggled with something ‘unusual’ and it made the anger in his chest flare. He hated being treated like he needed help with everything, like he was too incompetent to do basic things on his own like take a  _ shower _ . 

Just because he was currently failing to do exactly that didn’t mean he needed or wanted a crash course on how to do it. 

Shiro sighed again and shifted in his seat on the bed. “Look, Keith, I know you know how to take care of yourself. But there is clearly something wrong that’s making it hard for you to do that right now and I can tell it’s really upsetting you.

“I don’t expect you to be comfortable with telling me all the details, but would you at least let me suggest something that might be a little easier for you?”

Keith’s gaze flickered to Shiro’s face for a second in hesitant curiosity. He had to admit, despite how angry he still was and how much he wanted to reject the offer, an alternative way to fix his problem did sound appealing. 

His leader smiled warmly once he noticed his gaze. “I have a feeling you’ll like it. It helps me out too when my shoulder hurts too much for me to shower.” 

That comment put him off a little (he doubted he would ever enjoy bathing) but the idea that Shiro sometimes struggled with it too was comforting. Maybe, just this once, accepting help wouldn’t be so bad. 

“...Okay.” He agreed, though he was still hesitant. 

Shiro grinned and stood up. “Great. Let me go get something, okay? I’ll be right back.” The man said before he left the room and jogged down the hall. 

He was back in only a few minutes and sat down on the bed with Keith. 

The teen looked at the small white box in his lap in confusion. 

Before he could ask, Shiro explained what it was. “Coran gave me some special washcloths I could use to keep my shoulder clean when it hurts too much to shower.” The man opened the box and pulled out a thin, white piece of fabric. “They don’t feel as rough as a normal washcloth, so I think you’ll like them better. The ones I’m using are soaked in a sanitizing solution, but soap and water would work just fine too.”

“And you can use one of these to clean up instead of having to take a shower.”

Shiro offered the washcloth to Keith and he unfurled from his curled up position enough to feel the fabric with both hands. It felt...interesting, but not in a bad way. The fabric wasn’t rough, but the vague semblance of texture he could feel couldn’t really be considered soft, either. The sense of touch in his hands was wonky, though, so he experimentally rubbed the cloth against his cheek to see if it felt different. He was pleased to notice how much softer it felt there than on his hands. 

Keith took a moment to think about. Shiro had suggested this to him once before, back when they were at the garrison. He overheard the younger teen making an off handed comment about his face always feeling gross and suggested wiping it down with a washcloth in between showers. At the time he hadn’t taken the advice, but that was mostly because any washcloth he could get his hands on felt like sandpaper. The idea itself had been appealing. 

“Do I have to stand in the shower?” He asked, still not quite sure how to go about the whole thing. 

Shiro shook his head. “Nope. You can if you want, but you can sit on the toilet or drag a chair into the bathroom. There’s also the floor too, if that’s more comfortable.” The man said. “You just fill up the sink or a bucket with soapy water to use, whichever is easier for where you want to sit.” 

Keith nodded as he listened to the man talk. That sounded a whole lot better than a shower. If he could sit somewhere comfortable and not have to listen to the racket of the running water, then cleaning up didn’t sound as terrible anymore. It still didn’t sound like the best thing in the world, but it seemed...manageable. 

“Okay.” He agreed quietly. 

“Okay.” Shiro grinned. “I hope it helps. I know how gross it feels to not be able to shower even if you want to.” 

To his own surprise, Keith felt a smile pull at the sides of his mouth as well. It was odd to feel so comforted so suddenly after a near meltdown, but it felt nice; like someone finally understood him, even if it wasn’t completely. He felt like he could actually trust Shiro to help him with this now, because he struggled with it too. 

“...Shiro?” Keith spoke up after a moment of quiet. 

“Hm?” 

“Can you wash my hair?”


End file.
